Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Russian Federation President, Vladimir Putin, ended months of speculation by deciding to take part in the BRICS Summit virtually, scheduled to be held in Johannesburg between August 22nd to 24th. Russia will be represented in person by their Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov.
“President Putin will take part in the BRICS Summit via a video conference. His participation will be full-fledged. While Lavrov will attend in person,’’ said Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the 15th BRICS Summit will be the first in-person Summit since the outbreak of the pandemic. This time is it under South Africa’s presidency and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office has said in a readout that they had many rounds of consultations regarding the Summit.
“The Summit will be attended by leaders of India, China, Brazil and South Africa. By mutual agreement, President Putin will not attend the Summit in person. Russia will be represented by Lavrov,’’ said Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa, said in a statement.
Though India hasn’t officially given a statement on PM Modi’s in-person participation yet, sources point out that he will attend it in person. Chinese Premier Xi Jingping is likely to attend the Summit in person.
In due course, a comprehensive statement on the substantive issues to be covered at Summit and other related foreign policy matters will be issued.
There were debates in South Africa after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against President Putin. This had put South Africa in a fix as they have historic and friendly ties with Kremlin and have been neutral on the conflict in Ukraine. Earlier in 2015, South Africa didn’t arrest the then Sudanese President, Omar al Bashir who was and still is under ICC indictment for war crimes when he visited South Africa.
President Putin’s decision to attend it virtually has put all rumours at rest. President Ramaphosa is confident that the Summit will be a success.
BRICS, a bloc of emerging economic powers comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China was formed in 2019 as BRIC. South Africa joined the following year after an invitation from China, expanding the group.
Ethiopia, Iran and Argentina have also applied to join the bloc. According to reports, France too has shown an interest in BRICS.
NEW DELHI: Russian Federation President, Vladimir Putin, ended months of speculation by deciding to take part in the BRICS Summit virtually, scheduled to be held in Johannesburg between August 22nd to 24th. Russia will be represented in person by their Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov.
“President Putin will take part in the BRICS Summit via a video conference. His participation will be full-fledged. While Lavrov will attend in person,’’ said Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the 15th BRICS Summit will be the first in-person Summit since the outbreak of the pandemic. This time is it under South Africa’s presidency and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office has said in a readout that they had many rounds of consultations regarding the Summit.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
“The Summit will be attended by leaders of India, China, Brazil and South Africa. By mutual agreement, President Putin will not attend the Summit in person. Russia will be represented by Lavrov,’’ said Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa, said in a statement.
Though India hasn’t officially given a statement on PM Modi’s in-person participation yet, sources point out that he will attend it in person. Chinese Premier Xi Jingping is likely to attend the Summit in person.
In due course, a comprehensive statement on the substantive issues to be covered at Summit and other related foreign policy matters will be issued.
There were debates in South Africa after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against President Putin. This had put South Africa in a fix as they have historic and friendly ties with Kremlin and have been neutral on the conflict in Ukraine. Earlier in 2015, South Africa didn’t arrest the then Sudanese President, Omar al Bashir who was and still is under ICC indictment for war crimes when he visited South Africa.
President Putin’s decision to attend it virtually has put all rumours at rest. President Ramaphosa is confident that the Summit will be a success.
BRICS, a bloc of emerging economic powers comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China was formed in 2019 as BRIC. South Africa joined the following year after an invitation from China, expanding the group.
Ethiopia, Iran and Argentina have also applied to join the bloc. According to reports, France too has shown an interest in BRICS.
